Reg
01-06-2009, 09:22 AM
This helps explain how SA/trauma affects us.
Trauma Healing
Cognitive responses include memory difficulties, lack of concentration, poor judgment, inability to discriminate, and inability to make choices.
Emotional responses include depression, withdrawal, excitability, flashbacks, intense fear, feelings of helplessness, loss of control, loss of connection and meaning, generalized anxiety, and specific fears.
Physical responses include stomach pains, tightness of the chest, headaches, perspiration, and psychosomatic complaints.
Behavioral responses include irritability, startling easily, hyper-alertness, insomnia, communication difficulties, and drug, cigarette, or alcohol abuse.[3]
All told, victims of violence often feel humiliated, vulnerable, helpless, and that their lives are out of control.[4]
According to Herman, post-traumatic stress commonly manifests itself in three ways.[5]
* First, hyper-arousal arises from continual vigilance in hopes that the experience will not occur again.
* Second, the traumatic memory is omnipresent in the mind of the traumatized. The memory repeatedly occurs as a flashback, which can occur at any time, and the victim is unable to distinguish the memory from actually experiencing the event again.
* Third, traumatized individuals appear to be indifferent in order to mask the feelings of vulnerability and helplessness..........
Feelings of trauma can generate feelings of frustration and revenge that can produce a cycle of violence and also perpetuate feelings of victimhood on all sides of the conflict. Shared trauma generates a "we-feeling," but also creates an "us vs. them" mentality........
Providing Healing
...Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. ... Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.
"Psychological restoration and healing can only occur through providing the space for survivors to feel heard and for every detail of the traumatic event to be re-experienced in a safe environment."[11]....
...However, trauma healing often requires long-term support,....
Approaches to Trauma Healing
The goal of trauma healing is to give victims a feeling that they have control over their lives again. Herman identifies three stages that trauma victims move through as part of the healing process: safety, acknowledgement, and reconnection.[15] These processes have guided the creation of many trauma healing programs.....
The first step for most programs is to provide a safe space. A feeling of safety will encourage victims to open up and reveal details of their ordeal. Retelling the details of one's story can be therapeutic and allows those memories to be incorporated into the victim's life story. When the story is told in the presence of the other, it can lead to acknowledgement, apology, forgiveness, and reconnection. Julia Chaitin describes several such processes in detail in her essay in this knowledge base on Narratives and Story Telling......
Finally, participants are trained in active listening, which both allows the listener to understand and empathize with others and to better articulate one's own thoughts and feelings. This process helps facilitate reconnection with one's social environment and allows the victim to restore their place in society.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trauma_healing/?nid=1344
Trauma Healing
Cognitive responses include memory difficulties, lack of concentration, poor judgment, inability to discriminate, and inability to make choices.
Emotional responses include depression, withdrawal, excitability, flashbacks, intense fear, feelings of helplessness, loss of control, loss of connection and meaning, generalized anxiety, and specific fears.
Physical responses include stomach pains, tightness of the chest, headaches, perspiration, and psychosomatic complaints.
Behavioral responses include irritability, startling easily, hyper-alertness, insomnia, communication difficulties, and drug, cigarette, or alcohol abuse.[3]
All told, victims of violence often feel humiliated, vulnerable, helpless, and that their lives are out of control.[4]
According to Herman, post-traumatic stress commonly manifests itself in three ways.[5]
* First, hyper-arousal arises from continual vigilance in hopes that the experience will not occur again.
* Second, the traumatic memory is omnipresent in the mind of the traumatized. The memory repeatedly occurs as a flashback, which can occur at any time, and the victim is unable to distinguish the memory from actually experiencing the event again.
* Third, traumatized individuals appear to be indifferent in order to mask the feelings of vulnerability and helplessness..........
Feelings of trauma can generate feelings of frustration and revenge that can produce a cycle of violence and also perpetuate feelings of victimhood on all sides of the conflict. Shared trauma generates a "we-feeling," but also creates an "us vs. them" mentality........
Providing Healing
...Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. ... Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.
"Psychological restoration and healing can only occur through providing the space for survivors to feel heard and for every detail of the traumatic event to be re-experienced in a safe environment."[11]....
...However, trauma healing often requires long-term support,....
Approaches to Trauma Healing
The goal of trauma healing is to give victims a feeling that they have control over their lives again. Herman identifies three stages that trauma victims move through as part of the healing process: safety, acknowledgement, and reconnection.[15] These processes have guided the creation of many trauma healing programs.....
The first step for most programs is to provide a safe space. A feeling of safety will encourage victims to open up and reveal details of their ordeal. Retelling the details of one's story can be therapeutic and allows those memories to be incorporated into the victim's life story. When the story is told in the presence of the other, it can lead to acknowledgement, apology, forgiveness, and reconnection. Julia Chaitin describes several such processes in detail in her essay in this knowledge base on Narratives and Story Telling......
Finally, participants are trained in active listening, which both allows the listener to understand and empathize with others and to better articulate one's own thoughts and feelings. This process helps facilitate reconnection with one's social environment and allows the victim to restore their place in society.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trauma_healing/?nid=1344